I made a few follow-up posts to my original. There is a video I linked to upthread where the same exact locomotive that was involved in the crash was being tested with 8 cars attached. It took just under a minute to accelerate from 70MPH to 106 MPH. About 2 minutes from 0 to 106.
Yes, but those cars on that test run were empty.
No passengers, no luggage, no water.